Weekend Rewind: Round 8

Top 5 Plays of the Week (Rd8)Thanks to People's Choice, watch the best Western Bulldogs plays from Round 8 against the Brisbane Lions.

The Western Bulldogs have strung together three wins in a row for the first time this season, after downing Brisbane by 14 points at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

The Lions got within eight points half way through the final term before Marcus Bontempelli kicked his fourth goal, killing Brisbane’s momentum and helping the Dogs to a hard-fought 16.11 (107) to 14.9 (93) victory.

The Dogs are now 4-4 after eight rounds and will face the Crows at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

The numbers

Led by Jack Macrae, who amassed a career-best 47 disposals (18 contested), 10 clearances and eight tackles, the Bulldogs’ prime movers got to work against Brisbane.

Toby McLean (26 touches), Lachie Hunter (33) and Caleb Daniel (27) found plenty of the ball as did Matthew Suckling (30) who capped off his performance with a magnificent long-range goal in the final term.

Bontempelli roamed the forward line in his return from a hip complaint, kicking four goals while Billy Gowers, Patrick Lipinski and McLean chipped in for two goals each.

You can quote me on that

“I thought we did really well to be four goals up at different stages and we manufactured some goals from contest. I thought our contest and our hardness around the footy was first-rate,” Senior Coach Luke Beveridge.

“We share it around and if everyone gets on the scoreboard that’s good team footy. To kick over 100 points is really good but in saying that we also had more opportunities to kick some goals. We’ll just have to go to work and try and get better,” Jason Johannisen.

Josh Schache’s three goal performance was a shining light for Footscray who fell to Port Melbourne by 33 points in Round 6 of the VFL at Fortburn Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Scray’ took control early leading by 13 points at half time, but a goalless third term to the visitors aided Port Melbourne’s momentum, as they booted five goals and took a 20 point margin into the final change.

The Dogs were kept goalless in the first half but hit the scoreboard late with goals from Hayley Wildes and Rachel Ashley.

Up Next

The Western Bulldogs have a six-day turnaround for their trip to Adelaide Oval on Friday night to face a Crows side on the rebound from a narrow Showdown loss.

Footscray will play Werribee for the Western Health Cup on Sunday at Avalon Airport Oval at 2pm while the Western Bulldogs’ VFLW side will look to regroup after this week’s bye when they face Collingwood at VU Whitten Oval on May 26.